John Cleese Reviews

from San Francisco, California

JUST OK

John Cleese is such an icon that my wife and I had to see him but the show felt underwhelming: not enough material and lots of Q&A moderated by his daughter, who isn't particularly funny. And I have to say that although John had some good stuff, there were a number of old jokes that I'd heard elsewhere, long ago, and too many clips that felt like filler. Can't a man like that come up with more original material? He was definitely coasting. Not sure I'd recommend this show.

Dennis from Madison, Wisconsin

JOHN CLEESE

90 minutes, no intermission. The 90 minutes included a slightly late start, an introduction that was too long and really unnecessary. Mr.Cleese talked about stupidity and psychology and incompetence for about 35 minutes, a moderator came back, they talked for about 45 minutes and then a stage manager came on and said this was the last question. Lights up out the doors. Sound boring? I have heard many college lectures that were as witty and clever. John Cleese was brilliant in his day, but he is now a man who is famous for being a celebrity and must have to tour to pay the alimony from his many marriages. John, you say you are a writer and you once were brilliant.Time to turn off the television in your hotel room and try to write some life back into this tired act. Sorry to say, skip this show.

Kevin from Boston, Massachusetts

NEVER MEET YOUR IDOL

I was excited to see John Cleese in person, but pretty disappointed when he spoke. He ranted a lot about his ex wives. First of all, I can hear that kind of talk for much less money on a bad date. Second of all, it wasn't funny. In fact it was kind of mean. I started to get a feeling about why so many marriages did not work out. I just read a saying recently that you should .never meet your idol (because you will probably be disappointed) and I think that rings true in this case. Also, most of the evening was watching the movie!

Stewart from Ottawa, Ontario

DISAPPOINTING SHOW AT THE NAC

From the get-go I felt that despite my lack of any expectation I would be disappointed with John Cleese's appearance at Ottawa's National Arts Centre. At $100+ per amphitheatre seat, I was anticipating at least the odd chuckle and a couple of belly-laughs; but it was not to be. The sound was terrible and was made worse by fact that he spoke very quickly during the monologue portion of the show - my ears could not listen fast enough and I felt as though I was constantly decoding. Mr. Cleese spoke about critics and offered advice to an apparently-aspiring critic in the crowd by saying that they should not be mean. As such, I will offer that this show was not up to the standard that I have come to expect from Mr. Cleese through my longtime following of his TV shows, movies and management videos. The "fireside chat" portion of the show, where he sat and chatted with a local DJ was, in a word, boring and offered no flow. In the least mean way possible - not good value for my $$!

John Holden from Ottawa, Ontario

JOHN CLEESE

Mr. Cleese presented a fifty minute diatribe on general incompetence, stupidity, and how idiots came to run the world. They don't know they are stupid, you see. He then anwered a few questions from a moderator and the audience, His responses were mildly humorous but seemed to be one-size-fits- all set pieces that were stored until needed. The show eneded promptly at the 90 minute mark and I could not help but get the feeling that Mr. Cleese had been mentally looking at his watch and thinking; "Will this never end?" He did have a good line about Canada; "There is nothing wrong with your country that could not be cured by towing it 1500 miles south". Save your money and watch a Fawlty Towers re-run instead.

Bezdeekvor from Fresno, California

MEH...

I feel like I just paid 60 bucks to view an old movie. I don't think it was advertised as a Monty Python viewing when I purchased the tickets 6 months ago. So for those of you who like Cleese's other works, don't waste your time. It was all Python and questions regarding Pythons. No Faulty Towers or Fish Called Wanda. No sketches or imitations. All Python. The movie is 1.5 hours long and the Q and A is about 40 minutes.

Carolyn Gibbs from San Francisco, California

DISAPPOINTED IN SAN FRANCISCO

Was very excited as I spent many of my younger year in England. John Cleese and his band of merry men were true iconic groundbreaking heroes. To this day, his skits - The Parrot sketch, The Cheese Shop, The Argument, Faulty Towers and a Fish called Wanda rival all and any comedy out there. Unfortunately, the first at least hour was watching (the best parts) of the Holy Grail movies, building anticipation for him to come out. When he did, it was mumbling, answering STUPID questions, like: any advice for tall men (WHAT??) and how many times were you married. I DONT CARE - I wanted stories and tidbits about working with all these amazing other comedians, how they all came up with story lines, What was it like working with Connie and Manuel on Faulty Towers? Was super let down. When he got political (bad form) I was done. This was a sad ending to remember this once great entertainer. Felt like it was a throw away evening.

Page:123456All